Sunday, January 31, 2010

Cash Cow

The origins of the sarcastic phrase ‘cash cow’ began in business to describe the lack of control customers and government organizations have when spending money. In this particular case the cash cow has disproportional expenses divvied up by the local government. One great aspect about this caricature is the fact that individuals can relate to it on a small or big scale; everyone has witnessed local budgets being divided unfairly in their own community. Most noticeably is the law enforcement, single-handedly in our community of Alfred it is apparent how much money is being spent on law enforcement. I suppose it is completely necessary to replace perfectly fine Crown Vicks with expensive Dodge Chargers and SUV’s. Because Alfred is known for their high speed chases through the petite town. But cases such as this aren't only happening in small towns, cities across the United States have been dumping more money into law enforcement, and has the crime rate gone down because of it? Statics say no. Most importantly the dwindling amounts of money being given to the fire fighters and EMT’s for no apparent reason. Pretty soon all EMT’s will be volunteers, not saying volunteers are bad, but would you want to depend on a volunteer to save your life or a trained professional? Not only are their funds minuscule, but on the cash cow they represent the butt of the cow, the least commendable part of the cow. The cow itself is confused about the way it has been treated, saying “I suppose a little common sense perspective was out of the question.” This statement holds true to so much our government does to our communities.

3 comments:

For me this image is kind of ironic, I always thought of the cash cow to be plump and happy. To see it sad and malnourished is a great example of what we have done to the US. I understand how it can be frustrating to see taxes and other funding go to areas that do need funding but not that much funding. It is irritating that EMTs are getting less funding for equally and sometimes more lifesaving efforts. It is missing the physiognomy that we are accustom to.

The ironic part of this is that we really dont have control over where our taxes are going! It is ridiculous, and furthers my questioning of government and where our local state governments are doing with hard earned money, that could be used to SAVE LIVES!!!!

this statement is very true for my hometown, as well as Alfred and other towns. Cops are extremely well paid for not doing that much work, atleast in areas like here in Alfred and my home, although the Northport police force drives the usual Crown Vick. They are paid to sit at 7/11 (or unimart here) and drink coffee while people are getting hit by cars down the road. Sometimes if they are lucky they get to catch some peaceful stoners getting high. It is sad to see that much money go to waste when the fire departments in my hometown are 100% volunteer, and EMTs are mostly volunteers. Although they may not do much here, there are places where they should be paid well because it is a high crime area, like in areas where they ACTUALLY risk their lives doing their job... but I guess in areas like those funding isn't as good..